Unexpected Help
by nariel fire
Summary: Thranduil forbids a young Legolas to travel to Laketown to represent Mirkwood in trade negotiations. Legolas along with his royal guard, and best friend decide to go anyway. Before long legolas finds trouble and learns to fear the secondborn. Will a human family be able to redeem legolas faith in their race? And Will legolas accept help from the famous twins of Elrond?
1. suspicions

This is my first time ever doing anything like this, so I apologise if I'm no good I would love some feedback on this chapter.

Suspicions

The cavornous Halls of the Elven King were airily quite, and had been for the past week. Ever since Legolas, heir to the Mirkwood throne had vanished.

For months King Thranduil sent out patrols to look for his missing son, but after two years of searching the Elvin King lost hope.

TWO YEARS AGO:

"Ada seas. I shall take Kerdir with me, and you know how seriously he takes his job." Legolas continued to beg. This particular plea had been going on for days. It started when the prince had over heard his Ada talking with his councilors about sending an ambassador to Laketown, to negotiate trade routes.

"No, and that's my final answer Greenleaf." Growled Thranduil. "If you continue to pester me about this, then you will find yourself locked in your rooms for the next month. You know I do not make idle threats ion nin." Legolas recognising defeat decided to finish the conversation before he managed to anger his Ada further.

"I understand Ada I just wish you would reconsider."

Thranduil was often seen as cold and detached but he was not blind to his child's emotions. Sighing the king tried a softer approach. "I known little leaf but you've never been to a human settlement. Nor have you had interacted with a human, and in case you have forgotten you have yet to come of age."

Thranduil loved his child. Anyone who knew the royal family could see that. Legolas had a strong bright spirit, just like his mother had, and despite his age Legolas had gained the love and respect of all the Mirkwood people. Though this respect came with a high price. When the prince was about one hundred which is equivalent to a ten year old human he witnessed his mother's very brutal murder.

She was a brave and stubborn elf, there was no denying that. One day the Queen decided to surprise the young prince with a picnic in the woods, but before they made it too the clearing they were ambushed by orcs. She made a vallient effort to hold back the orcs as best as she could with her twin knifes, but she knew that she couldn't hold them back forever. With this in mind she threw Legolas on her horse and whispered to the horse to protect her son and take him home. With her child safe the Queen continued her fight. She slashed and tore at the beasts who had dared to scare her son but a single Elven warrior can only last so long against the forced of evil.

Search parties were sent out to retrieve the Queens body once it was discovered that she had past, but all that was ever found of her was her twin knifes and favourite mithril necklace.

Elves were made with strong bodies but their fea were another story. Being creations of the light Elves can only handle so much darkness, before it overwhelms them. It's when the darkness outways an elfs grasp of the light, that they begin to fade and their souls retreat to the Halls of Mandos for healing.

Most of the elves in Mirkwood believed that the prince would fade after witnessing such a horrible event. That he would lose his grip on life and allow his fea to find healing in the Halls of Mandos, but he proved stronger than that. As much as he wanted to fade and be reunited with his mother in Mando's halls, he knew that he needed to stay for his father. This is how the little prince became the hope of the people. If he could survive his mother's murder, then Mirkwood could withstand the growing darkness that was encompassing their home.

The prince could sense defeat. he had been petitioning his father for days and the patrol was due to leave tomorrow, so it was with a heavy heart that the prince conceded. "I understand Ada, but before I go, I request to be excused from supper tonight." He needed some time to himself to come to terms with his father's denial. In his heart the prince knew that his Ada only wanted to keep him safe, but he was beginning to feel trapped.

Thranduil understood that legolas wanted time to himself to process this denial, but something felt wrong about accepting this request. After a moments hesitation the king chose to ignore his hearts warning, missing out on one meal with his son seemed like a good deal considering the circumstances. "Of course my child. I shall see you tomorrow at breakfast." Thranduil replied with a nod. Legolas took this as the dismissal it was, and offered a small but sincere smile as he bowed to his father.

It was later that evening that legolas could be found sitting on his window sill staring out across the forest. This is where he could always be found when pondering over something important, in fact after his mother's demise he sat unresponsive in this very spot for about two weeks. His mind was currently in overdrive going over his options.

The negotiator was to be sent to Laketown on the morrow with a contingent of Mirkwoods best warriors. Most elves at this point would accept defeat but not the famed prince of Mirkwood. Legolas had decided he was not going to spend his life sitting in the safety of his father's palace. He had waited 900 years and now it was his time to see the world outside of his Homeland. As much as he hated to defy his father, his desire for adventure was too hard to ignore. So it was at this point that the prince began coming up with reasons to justify his choice.

"How could Ada not trust me to run a simple errand? Why couldn't I at least join the patrol as a soldier, nobody would even know who I am." Fueled by these thoughts and the continual denial of his father's trust, Legolas began to pack for his solo trip to Laketown. If his father wouldn't give him a chance to prove himself then he was going to have to find his own way.

* * *

Thud thud, someone was at the door? Legolas gave a sarcastic laugh. "of course there's someone at the door why else would I hear Knocking." The prince wasn't expecting anybody at this hour, but it was common for a member of the palace staff to check up on him before they left for the night.

"Enter" he yelled while tucking his bag and weapons under his bed. It wouldn't do to get caught by a maid for she would surely tell his father. He had begun packing his bag about an hour ago, and as this was his first trip outside the palace walls he wasn't so sure what to bring. This made packing very slow going. Everytime he put something in his bag he would find himself taking it out and reconsidering it's necessity. It was getting to the point that the prince felt like he was procrastinating.

At the sound of someone clearing their throat the prince was snapped out of his mussings. As he turned around he realised that it was no maid standing at his door but his royal bodyguard.

"Kerdir? What brings you here?" Legolas asked while trying to subtly draw the ellons attention away from his bed.

Keldir had known Legolas ever since the prince learnt how to walk, and therefore create chaos. His father Kelthoniel has been the king's bodyguard for the past millennium, so their families had always been close as long as Keldir could remember. So it was with a bemused smile on his face that Kerdir crossed his arms and watched his charges guilty behaviour. Legolas had never been good at lying, despite his many attempts at it. This was something Kerdir appreciated, for if the prince could lie then he would have been a lot more successful in his past escapades.

"Why my prince I have come to see how you're coping with missing out on going with the delegation to Laketown. I know you were keen to attend." Legolas could see the look on his protectors face and he immediately knew that he was suspicious. He had to redirect his guards attention before it was to late.

"Thank you Mellon nin, but I am ok. It's true I wanted to represent Mirkwood, but my father makes a good point. I am too young to travel to other lands."

Keldir knew exactly where his princes pack lay, and he had a suspicion of what it contained. He had noticed it the moment he stepped in the room. The strap that was sticking out from under the bed was a dead give away. Based on this discovery he deduced everything rather quickly, but decided not to confront his long time friend yet. Instead he intended to drag out the princes suffering as punishment for lying to him.

"I see my prince, it's very mature of you to look at this situation through your father's eyes. Maybe I'll put a word in with your father about this new found maturity." As he was talking he slowly walked towards the bed, never taking his eyes off of the prince. Relishing in the way the prince scrambled to regain control of the situation, Keldir chose to stand right next to the bed and continued to exert ignorance towards the pack hiding under the bed.

A part of Legolas realised that his faithful guard knew about his pack and weapons, but whatever chance he still had in getting away with his lie he was unwilling to give up. So with that in mind he continued with his rouse.

"That's a nice offer Mellon nin but you're more afraid of my Ada than I am"

"Aye my prince I must agree with you, your Adar is terrifying and I say that respectfully of course."

"Of course." Laughed Legolas. He hadn't missed the evil spark that was in Keldir's eyes nor had he failed to notice the formal tone in his voice, he was screwed and he knew it.

Seeing a change in the prince, Keldir felt like this was the perfect time to end his suffering and reveal his discovery. Bending down behind the bed the elf reappeared holding Legolas bow in one hand and his pack in the other.

"I myself would hate to be in the room when your father finds out about your plan to go against his direct orders and run away to Laketown."

Legolas face immediately turned beat red while he stood there trying and failing to come up with an excuse. A true sign of his discomfort was the way he fiddled with the Hem of his shirt, this had always been one of Legolas main tells.

"I uh, I was, I... Please don't tell Ada!"

Keldir found himself at a loss for words, but it didn't last long.

"Mellon what are you thinking! You know what? YOU can't have been thinking because if you were, you would have realised that this plan of yours is ludicrous."

"Please Kel. Just hear me out." The prince pleaded, while staring at Keldir the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage.

"No my prince. I will not allow you to go ahead with this. It's dangerous and plain stupid. You want your Ada to view you as an adult don't you? I can assure you that this is not the way to go about it, and stop with those damn puppy dog eyes. they don't work on me."

"KEL! just shut up and listen." Yelled Legolas. "I know you don't agree with my plan, but I'm going. Now you can go to my father and tell him about all this. Or you can be my loyal friend and forget you saw any of this, It's you're choice. And by the way I don't have puppy dog eyes I'm no child."

Keldir stood there looking highly flustered, before he rolled his eyes. He saw many flaws with both of the options given, but one thing was certain he had to protect his prince. So it was with this aim in mind that caused The guard to visibly deflated. He knew he was going up against a stubborness he could never hope to defeat.

"My prince you know I will always be loyal to you, and not only because you're my prince and it's my duty but because your my gwador. Now if you're sure you want to go along with this hairbrain plan then I'm at least coming with you."

Legolas was dumbfounded never before had Kel called him his gwador, but it felt right.

The prince found himself smiling.

"Ok gwador. If that is your wish then you may accompany me."

Keldir smiled at the use of the title, before leaving to pack his bag for the trip to Laketown.

Elvish translations:

Ada= dad

Adar=father

Mellon= friend

Mellon min= my friend

ellons= male elf's

gwador= sworn brother.


	2. departure

Departure

Keldir sighed when he saw his prince trying to sneak his way around the Halls of the palace. In the long years he had known Legolas, not once had he seen his prince successfully lie or sneak his way into anywhere. Though it was not through a lack of trying.

He could remember one time when Legolas had tried to sneak into the kitchens to steal some raspberry pies. This particular memory never failed to make him smile. Legolas proud grin as he made his way back to his rooms was an image he would never forget. Arms full of jelly tarts he was almost running through the halls. That is until he managed to run headfirst into his Ada. This left both ellons sprawled on the ground, covered in raspberry jelly.

Keldir snapped back to reality and sighed. He couldn't help but feel like he was putting his prince in danger by going along with this plan. He knew he should tell his King, it would be the responsible thing to do. But his heart told him he could never betray legolas like that. So even if it meant risking his Kings anger Kerdir would follow legolas, if only to keep him out of danger.

"He's so young" he muttered under his breath while making his way towards his prince.

"Mellon nin, I was beginning to think you had left without me."

The sudden appearance of his guard made legolas jump, which of course made Keldir smile.

"Forgive me my prince it was not my intention to startle you."

"Of course it wasn't" replied legolas while eyeing his friend with suspicion.

"Mellon nin, did you find out what time the guards change over?

Keldir continued to smile at his Lord, for he recognised the intentional change in topic.

"Aye Gwador. According to my Ada the guards are due to change over at one hour to midnight."

"You asked your father? Was that wise Kel?"

"Do not worry Gwador he believes I was asking for a friend of mine who I believed to be on night shift."

"Well done Mellon. Are you ready to go?"

"Aye I believe so my Lord" Kel replied with only a moment of hesitancy.

"Great. Then I believe it's about time we left."

Making there way though the palace unnoticed proved to be more of a challenge than they originally though. There were not only guards patrolling the halls but also palace staff and councillors. "They must be preparing for the departure tomorrow." legolas whispered to Kel.

After about 20 minutes of skulking around the halls the pair found themselves hiding in the bushes just outside the main door.

Escaping the palace had required a straight forward plan, but trying to escape Mirkwood takes a lot more consideration. This is due to the huge stone doors that only open if given the right command.

Unfortunately legolas hadn't been given this password.

"My prince, Look." Whispered Keldir as he pointed to a pair of guards."

"I believe they are about to swap posts with the guards on the other side of the wall."

"I believe your right Mellon nin. Let's see if we can get closer." As the pair started to make their way out of the bushes there was a sudden shout followed by the sound of stone grinding on stone.

Legolas grabbing Kel"s arm began to pull him closer to the doors. The Valar must have been looking down on them this night, because the ever attentive guards were standing together discussing something that must have occured during their patrol. Hoods pulled over their heads, the run away prince and partner slipped past the guards and into the dark forest.

Three days later:

After what felt like days of non stop walking and climbing through the trees, Kel spotted a distant lake. "My Lord, I think I see a lake. We must be close." Legolas turned too see what his gwador was looking at and smiled. "Aye my friend. We must be close."

Over the last few days Keldir had watched his friend grow quieter and decided he had had enough.

"Mellon nin, we have risked your father's famed wrath just so that you could meet some humans, but it seems the closer we come to achieving this goal the more withdrawn you become. What's wrong?

Legolas turned to face his gwador.

"I am sorry Mellon nin. I know you are risking much to come with me."

"Aye my Lord, I am. And I'm happy too, as long as I know that I'm doing it for a good reason? Is this why you're quiet? Is it thoughts of your father causing you this distress?

Legolas offered a meek smile. "No gwador, it's not. Although the thought of facing my father again does make me nervous." legolas sighed. "I can't help but worry about meeting one of the secondborn for the first time. You know my Ada's views on this subject, and I'm beginning to wonder how much of what I've been told is true?"

Suddenly Keldir understood his friends subdued demeanor. Having never meet a human before Legolas has only the words of his father to trust. King Thranduils opinion of the second born is no secret. He believes them to be greedy, selfish beings who are not worth the time of the firstborn.

Keldir hadn't spent much time amount humans, but he understood that they weren't all the same. "My Lord I know your father's opinions about the second born, and I would never say anything to contradict my king, but I do believe that you should give them a chance. You may find that they surprise you." Legolas looked down his ears turning red. "You're right Mellon nin, I shouldn't prejudge them it was wrong of me to assume the worst."

It was now Keldir's turn to sigh. "Do not punish yourself too harshly my Lord. But with all of this said, I must ask that you remain cautious around the second born. They are a younger race and are often afraid of what they don't understand."

"I understand Mellon nin, I know my Ada hasn't done much to strengthen the ties between elves and men. I'll keep my face covered."

"Thank you. I don't believe I have it in me too face your father if something happened to you." Admitted Keldir with a look of mock horror on his face.

Legolas laughed. "You're right Mellon nin, that isn't a fate I would wish on anyone." He replied while grinning at his gwador.

With his princes spirits raised Keldir suggested that they keep going so that they may arrive tomorrow morning. A full day ahead of the official delegation.


	3. good morning

Good morning 3

"Mellon? It's time to wake up" legolas whispered to Kel." Said ellon could detect the joy in his friends voice and it served to annoy him.

"Gwador only you could believe that this is a reasonable time to get up." Keldir groaned, before trying to wriggle further into his bed roll.

legolas gave a playful nudge to his friends side before finding a tree to watch the sunrise from.

It was still about half an hour to Dawn so legolas decided to spend this time conversing with the trees. The song of Arda could be heard by all elves to an extent, but legolas was more conected to Arda than most. When he chose to, he could communicate with the trees and wildlife around him. "Hello young one." The ancient trees voice thrummed in legolas mind, causing the elf to smile. "I must thank you for your protection this night, and access to your branches so that I may see the sunrise." Legolas replied.

"You're welcome child. The trees will always aid you in whatever way you need. You need only but ask." Legolas was grateful for the trees willingness to help. As he sat there waiting for the sun he could feel another comforting presence in his mind reminding him that he's safe and can let his guard down. For the trees would warn him if danger was near.

Before too Long the sun could be seen making her way into the sky, and covering Arda with her beautiful Ray's. There was one elf though who was not happy about her presence in the sky, for it meant he would have to abandon his makeshift bed. Groaning Keldir sat up. His foggy brain struggling to take in it's surrounding's noticed something that left him feeling confused. Tree... tree...bush...rock...tree... prince in tree...p.prince in tree? "My Lord why may I ask are you in a tree?"

Legolas smiled down to his very tired looking companion. "Why my friend you needed your beauty sleep so I decided to converse with the trees." As legolas was talking, his gwador began to rub his eyes like a child would after waking. He couldn't help but laugh.

"What my Lord do you find so funny? Keldir growled at the prince. "Nothing really" legolas smiled while trying to hide the full extent of his mirth. Keldir scowled up at legolas clearly not happy with that answer. "Peace my friend I was just thinking about how young you look when you wake up. I don't believe it would be too much of a stretch to compare you to a three year old elfling." This was obviously not what Kel wanted to hear if the look on his face was anything to go by. "My Lord in case you have forgotten I am 600 years your senior." Keldir icily replied.

Hearing legolas laughter drifting down from the trees was the last straw for keldir, so before he knew it legolas was falling out of a tree. Sitting up Legolas couldn't help but stare at his friend. He never thought Keldir would do something as childish as throw a stick at him. He always prided himself on being the responsible one after all. Meanwhile Keldir was doing everything in his power to look intimidating, but the bewildered look on his friends face was beginning to get to him.

Suddenly both friends burst into pearls of laughter, with tears running down their faces. It had been a long time since both ellons had been this relaxed.

Keldir was the first one to regain control over himself, and eventually declared that it was time they pack up camp and begin the trek into town.

At first glance Laketown could look like a peaceful human settlement on a lake. This was even more true if it is glanced upon at dawn. When the sun could be seen rising from the lake and covering everything in her golden glow. In fact Legolas found the town to be oddly beautiful, in a simplistic, peaceful way.

"My Lord before we enter the town, I believe it best to talk about how we are going to introduce ourselves."

"Aye Mellon nin" Legolas sighed. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of lying to the people who were allowing them to stay in their settlement, but he understood his guards line of thinking.

"Have you got a plan?"

"I believe so. I was thinking that at least for today we should keep your royal status a secret. Therefore I shall refer to you only as Gwador or Mellon nin. If that's alright with you."

"Of course Mellon nin. Then tomorrow we can speak to the leader of this town, and hopefully join in on the trade negotiations."

"That is if Finrod allows it." Legolas interjected.

Keldir winced. "Aye my lord. But I believe when Finrod sees you, he's probably going to try and keep you close." Legolas chuckled "Yes I believe he would want to try."

Chuckling they pulled up their hoods and made their way towards the bridge. Finrod is the official negotiator who was sent to Laketown by Legolas father. He also happens to be the worst tempered negotiator in all of Mirkwood.

As they grew closer to the town Legolas began to notice things in more detail. For example What looked like the town square was beginning to fill up with people, who would greet each other and share in pleasant conversations. Although they weren't doing anything of importance, Legolas found them fascinating. The thing that amazed him the most was how varied they all were in appearances.

Unlike the first born these humans were all different shapes and sizes. Not only that but some of them looked like their bodies had shrunk but their skin hadn't? Instead the excess skin just hung from them. Legolas was ripped from his chain of thought by a sudden yell.

"Holt. State your names and business." Legolas turned to Keldir and with a look they decided that Keldir would be the spokes person.

"Greetings. I believe we were expected by the leader of this town. We are apart of a delegation from Mirkwood sent by our king to discuss trade routes?"

"Elves? Show your face so I can be assured your being truthful."

"We shall do as you ask, but I must warn you I do not like being accused of lying" replied Keldir with a hint of anger showing though. Both elves removed their hoods long enough to reveal to the man that they were in fact elves.

It want long though before legolas felt a need to lift his hood again. Keldir could see that the mans lingering gaze on his prince was making his friend uncomfortable so he cleared his throat to gain the man's attention. It worked almost immediately, for the man could detect the anger radiating from the brown haired elf.

"I ask your pardon sirs but we were expecting more of you?"

Keldir knew he couldn't afford to anger this man so he took a deep breath before replying in the most civil tone he could. "Aye we know. But if you had been listening earlier sir, then you would have heard me say we were apart of a delegation from Mirkwood. We were sent ahead to inform you that the rest of the delegation will be arriving tomorrow morning."

The man turned red. "I'm sorry elf it must have slipped my mind." He replied while indicating for the elves to enter the town. He was obviously trying to get rid of them as quick as he could.

"Hannon le." Legolas said as he walked past the man.

When the elves had made it out of the mans earshot, which surprised Legolas for it wasn't very far, Keldir leaned towards his prince and whispered "let's hope they aren't all that thick." Before giggling.

Legolas smiled. He felt hopeful that Maybe just maybe their plan would work.


	4. arrival

Arrival 4

"It's best we keep a low profile today, so let's split up and see what our accommodation options are. I'll meet you back here in 20mins."

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to split up Mellon. It's safer if we stick together." Cautioned Keldir.

Legolas grinned. "Gwador. Don't tell me you're afraid of being alone." Glaring at legolas, Keldir found himself wishing he could smack that grin of his face.

"Nay my Lord, But my mind cautions me against the idea of letting you out of my sight. After all you are but an elfling."

Legolas growled. "Well this elfling no longer cares about your opinion so I'll meet you back here in 20minutes. He replied smugly.

Watching legolas retreating form Keldir sighed. "Just like his father, stubborn as a dwarf." Keldir chuckled. If Thranduil heard that comparison he would be locked in the dungeons for a millennium.

Keldir walked off towards what looked like a market of sorts, and found himself oggling at all the goods that were for sale.

"I'm getting side tracked" he muttered to himself.

"Excuse me sir but do you know of any lodgings that may be available?" Keldir asked the closest person to him.

"It just so happens master.."

"James"

"Master James, that I own the inn just down the street and there are a few rooms available." Having his hood still firmly in place Keldir decided it would be easier to just let this man assume he was human.

"Thank you sir. I shall go inform my companion and meet you at your inn an hour from now, if that works for you?"

"All right son. I'll see you then."

And with that Keldir was off to find his prince.

Meanwhile Legolas was wondering the streets admiring the structures and occupants of the village. So far he had come to the conclusion that humans were similar to the elves in many ways, but there were still some stand out differences. For example they seemed to touch each other a lot more than what is customary in the Elvin culture.

On many occasions legolas had noticed the secondborn hugging each other as a form of greeting, or in the very least they would shake hands. Storing this away as useful information for later, legolas continued his search for lodgings.

"Hello ma'am. I was wondering if you may be able to help me find somewhere I could stay for a few days." This particular lady looked young for one of the second born. Her face was almost wrinkle free, and here hair was still jet black. These were the only signs legolas knew to look for when trying to judge the age of a human, and he found it to be an interesting challenge.

"Of course young man. Just head back the way ya came and there should be a inn just to ya left."

"Thank you ma'am I shall do as you say." Unsure if he should hug her or just turn and leave, legolas chose the second option. Hugging may be a human custom but that was not something he was comfortable doing with a stranger, so with one last smile he turned and headed back the way he came.

Heading back up the street he came from, legolas found himself battling with the wind. Before he realised what had happened he saw a little girl pointing at him with her mouth wide open. "Oh no." Legolas reached for his hood but it was too late. Letting out a few elvish curses under his breath he struggled to get his hood back up. It was easier said than done. With the wind proving a nuisance he didn't have enough hands to hold the hood and tuck his hair back under the hood.

Luckily for him he found himself an unlikely Ally. Feeling a tug on his leggings the prince looks down and discovers a little girl standing there. The same little girl who he saw pointing at him a few moments ago. Crouched down to see what she wanted, he was surprised when she handed him her teddy.

Finding himself completely bewildered he took the teddy in one hand and looked back at the little girl. Now with her hands free the little girl begins to tuck his golden tresses under his hood. Legolas found himself frozen in shook. This is the last thing he expected her to do. From his estimation she must be about 9 years of age. Her messy brown hair and missing front teeth adding to her youthful appearance.

He finally found his voice when the girl reached for her teddy back.

"Hannon le" he whispered to her. She frowned at him while hugging her teddy close.

Legolas realising his mistake smiled. "It means thank you." This made the little girl smile a toothy grin. "You're welcome." And with that she was gone.

Legolas couldn't help the cheesy smile that was plastered to his face as he made his way back to the meeting spot. Only now did he notice that all his anger from his previous encounter with his friend was gone. All he could think about was telling his friend about the little girl.


	5. taken

* * *

"Legolas?... Mellon?" Keldir had spent the last hour waiting for his prince to return to the meeting spot, and was starting to get worried. After a few minutes of debating with himself he decided to go looking for his gwador.

"Excuse me ma'am." He saw a women carrying what looked like vegetables and decided to ask her if she had news of his friends whereabouts.

"I don't suppose you've seen a young man in a dark green hood lately?"

"No lad, I'm sorry I haven't seen anyone in a hood, but I better be getting my young one home. I hope you find your friend." Keldir knew it was a long shot but was really hoping for some news of his prince. With a sad smile he went to leave. Looking down Keldir saw a young girl sucking her thumb and clinging to a well-worn teddy.

"I understand my lady. Thank you anyway." With a friendly smile the lady turned to head home, but soon realised that her daughter wasn't following her."

"Come on Indy it's time to go honey." Indy gave no indication that she heard her mother, instead she kept starring at Keldir with a look of concentration on her face.

Keldir turned back around to discover the little girl pulling on his leggings.

"Hello little one. Can I help you with something?"

No answer was given but she continued to pull on his leggings. Confused Keldir bent down so as to make himself less intimidating to the little girl. He was about to ask her again if she needing anything, when suddenly she reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair that had slipped out of his hood back in. Surprised by this girls actions Keldir gave her a warm smile.

"Thank you little one.".

The smile fled from the girls face, and was replaced by a look if pure concentration. Puzzled by this sudden change, Keldir went to stand up. He was worried he had said something to offend her, but before he could the little girl grabbed his sleeve and whispered to him, "Hannon le." To say he was shocked would be an understatement.

"D..did you just say hannon le?" The girl smiled obviously proud of herself. "Have you seen my friend little one?" She nodded and pointed down the street.

"Hannon le little one. You have been very helpful."

Standing up Keldir had an idea.

"Excuse me ma'am, where did you buy those vegetables?"

The lady was obviously confused by her daughter's behaviour, but answered anyway.

"Just down the street at Old Tony's."

"Thank you. Both of you. Keldir smiled at the young girl before taking his leave."

"He was on the right track."

* * *

Making his way back to the meeting spot legolas witnessed what looked like a couple of men trying to steel an old ladies bag. Unable to ignored something so blatantly wrong legolas ran into the alley where this was taking place.

"Excuse me. I believe this lady doesn't want to be parted with her belongings." Legolas said with a hint of a warning in his voice.

"Leave us scum. This has nothing to do with you."

One of the brutish men yelled back.

Legolas had been expecting this answer so he had grabbed his twin blades before entering the alley. Twirling the blades menacingly while advancing on the men, Legolas decided to give the men one last chance.

"Release the women and you won't be harmed."

The men looked at Legolas with no little amount of fear in their eyes. If only it had ended there. Legolas was so focused on the men in front of him and making sure they didn't harm the old lady, that he didn't hear the men approaching him from behind.

"Drop the knifes boy." Legolas froze when he felt the cold edge of a blade graze his neck. Growling legolas dropped his knifes and raised his empty hands. "Good boy." One of the men said mockingly.

"Let's see who this hero is shall we?" The largest man approached legolas. panicking legolas began to struggle. Icannot let him touch my hood, legolas thought to himself. So in a desperate last attempt at escape he kicked out at the man and struck him in the stomach. The man holding the knife to his neck suddenly pressed down harder causing a thin line if blood to run down his neck. "You're gonna pay for that boy." Growled the injured man." Legolas laughed. "Maybe, but I'll never regret doing it." With another growl the man stepped up to Legolas and ripped his hood off.

"It's an elf." A man could be heard saying in astonishment.

The leader of the group chuckled. "Let the old bat go. We have a better prize."

* * *

It was about one hour till dark and Keldir was beginning to panic. He had found Old Toby's vegetable shop but legolas was nowhere to be found, and that was about two hours ago. Muttering to himself Keldir decided to back track and see if he missed anything.

"I lost him...What am I going to say to his father...If he's not dead I'm going to kill him... That's what I'll do I'll kill him...but then I have to face his father?..maybe not then..." His worried ramblings where suddenly interrupted when he overheard something of interest.

"I ain't lyin' to ya. I swear kole 'as one."

"Ya drunk mate. Them elves are too slippery for an oaf like kole."

"Na honest he has one. This one tried to help some old women that kole was robbing. Stupid if ya ask me."

Keldir groaned "Oh no."

"What ya want mate?" Keldir froze. His worry for his prince had made him careless. Now he had three men looking right at him. The very same three men he had been listening too. There was no way he could pretend he didn't hear the man, so that left h with one option.

"Excuse me sir. I didn't mean to ease drop, but we're you discussing an elf? I'm very...fascinated with that race." Keldir made sure to make his voice sound more gravelly, so that he could pass as a man.

All three men continued to eye him wearily, and Keldir panicked they saw through his human act.

"Aye sir we were." One of the men replied, while waving him over. Keldir let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding in.

"Danny here says he saw one with a dodgy character."

"I wish I could see 'im for myself. As I said I find them interesting. Maybe I could talk to the man he was with?" Keldir spoke as if mere interest was his only drive.

"Ya don't wanna be doing that lad, Kole ain't a nice fella. He's not the sort who likes to share his...toys."

Keldir paled at the word toy. Furious that these men were talking about his friend as if he wasn't a living being, Keldir was forced to Reign in his temper and summon his most civil voice.

"Really? You make it sound like he's in ownership of this elf. Any ideas what he'll do with it?

Simply referring to his prince as it burned at Keldir's soul, but he knew it to be necessary.

"If I know anything about Kole, he'll wanna train it and keep it as a trophy." The man who Keldir now knew was called Danny replied.

"Thank you gentlemen. I better be on my way." Keldir knew that asking anymore questions would seem suspicious, so as much as he wanted to ask about how many followers Kole has and his whereabouts Keldir reframed.

"You're welcome lad."

Keldir struggled to smile back. If only these men knew how old he really was, they wouldn't be calling him lad.

* * *

Thank you too Mustard Lady, Makanie, and playonworlds. Your comments are the reason I am continuing with this story. And for any others that have read my story to this point thank you, and feel free to leave a comment

* * *

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	6. Eye opener

7 eye opener

Darkness. He had never been a fan of the darkness, being a wood elf he liked to avoid dark places that prevented him from being with his forest. Despite his dislike, legolas woke up only to see the dark underside of a blindfold.

"He's wakin' up boss."

Legolas flinched, he had been unaware that anyone was near. Sighing the captured prince decided he better focus.

"You sure this time Jared?

Afformentioned Jared is considered a young man in the eyes of his people. His large hazel eyes and unruly hair added to his youthful appearance. In fact if it wasn't for his stubbly facial hair he could pass as an 18 year old.

"Aye boss I'm sure. I heard 'im groan."

"That true elf. Ya finally awake?" Kole sneered.

Legolas stayed quiet, nothing would make him speak to this orch of a man.

"I swear boss he's awake."

"I believe ya lad, he's just bein' stubborn. All he needs is a bit of training." With that said Kole pulled back his leg and booted Legolas in the stomach.

Caught completely unaware the prince doubled over while trying to draw air into his failing lungs. All the while Kole could be heard laughing.

"I believe he's awake now." Kole jeered.

Legolas couldn't help but growl in response. Who did this man think he was.

"Don't be like that elf. Some might think your bein' disrespectful to your master."

As much as Legolas wanted to scream that he had no master, he knew any response would only lead to more pain.

Much to the princes dissmay cold fingers suddenly gripped his ear. For an elf this is a horrible offense, for in Elvin culture the ears are considered sacred. Shaking his head he tried to loosen the mans grip on his ear but unfortunately this just made the man hold on tighter. Yelping legolas ceased his efforts.

Grinning Kole kneeled down so he was eye to eye with the prince.

"Don't worry elfy, I'll train ya up in no time. Maybe some piercings in those pretty ears if yours will be... motivating."

Legolas failed to hide his panic that these words caused him to feel, holes in his ears would be unbearably painful.

Reveling in the fear he was able to install in 'his' elf, Kole let go of legolas ear and stroked the elfs head as he went to stand up.

"I am no pet in need of patting" legolas snarled before spitting on the mans boot.

"This 'ill be fun elf, you'll see." Was the mans only reply.

Watching the mans retreating form Legolas couldn't help the fear that rose in his stomach. As much as he knew he shouldn't aggrivate his tormentor, his hereditary stubborness wouldn't let him submit to this man. He had to keep fighting.

* * *

It had been a long night. Keldir had not only spent the entire night wondering the streets and entering every inn he could find, but he was also no closer to finding his friend. Man after intoxicated man Keldir questioned but when it came to the location of the man named Kole everyone if them became very tight lipped.

Deflated and worried for his prince Keldir decided it was time to request some back up.

Today the official delegation from Mirkwood was due to arrive and much to the chagrin of Kel he was going to have to admit to the most stuck up elf in all of greenwood that he has lost his prince.

Finrod. The name alone made Keldir shiver. Making his way towards the front gate where he would intercept the delegation Keldir couldn't help but contemplate how he was going to tell the councillor.

'excuse me sir but I lost the prince, and sole heir to our kingdoms throne.' No that's definitely not it. How about 'Fancy seeing you here on this fine day. Did I happen to mention I've misplaced the prince?' Definitely not. Hmmm I think I got it 'hello sir, as you know I'm the princes bodyguard, You know the one who's supposed to keep him safe. Well funny story I helped him escape the safe palace and escorted him to this lovely town where he was captured by a notorious scum bag in under 24 hours. How was your trip?'

Keldir sighed there was no good way to break the news, for what has happened is terrible and it's all my fault.

He was pulled out if his guilty musings by a very familiar voice.

"Keldir isn't it?" Finrod questioned

The rest of the delegation was right behind him and began to dismount their horses.

"Aye sir it is."

"Hmmm I don't suppose you've seen prince Legolas anywhere have you? He seems to have disappeared. I know the king would greatly appreciate any information you have about his where about for he is frantic with worry.

'He had to bring up the king. He did it on purpose keldir suspected.

"Well sir I have to confess I travelled here with prince Legolas just yesterday, but..."

"Good good I'm so glad Legolas has you to look out for him. Being the responsible elf you are." Finrod mocked.

"So where is his highness?"

Keldir let out a deep breath this was even harder than he had imagined.

"I...don't know sir." He admitted

"Speak up penneth, I fear I just heard you say you had lost the prince."

"You heard correctly sir. When we arrived yesterday the prince and I split up to search for somewhere to stay, and he never returned to the arranged meeting spot.

Finrod began to turn red.

"I am no warrior like yourself, but doesn't it seem dangerous to split up when in unknown territory. Especially if one of the elves involved is royalty, young, and amongst humans for the first time."

"Aye sir, what I did was stupid and I can promise you I regret my actions immensely, but we need to find Legolas."

Finrod was dripping egotism but agreed with keldir. The prince must be found.

"You're right. Have you discovered anything about his whereabouts?" The councillor questioned.

"It is my belief that he stumbled across a burglary and tried to help the victim, which then lead to him being captured by the assalents."

"Do you know anything about these assalents?"

"Aye sir I believe the leader of this group is a man called Kole. He's very well known in this town as a violent man who's to be avoided at all costs."

"Of course I wouldn't expect anything less." Finrod mocked.

"I better inform my escort and then we can begin the search."

"Excuse me men it appears that the prince has gotten himself into some trouble with the help of his young guard here. Now it's believed that he's being held by a man who goes by the name of Kole. So let's split into pairs for I believe it unwise for anyone to travel alone and let's find our lost prince. Keldir you're with me for we have to speak with this towns officials."

"Yes sir all the Elves replied before organising themselves into pairs and heading off into the town. That is everyone but Keldir who it would seem was lucky enough to be paired with Finrod.

"My prince when we find you I'm going to kill you. You owe me big time." Keldir muttered to himself before following after the insufferable councilor.

* * *

I feel like this chapters not up to my normal standards and for that I'm sorry. Hopefully my next chapter will seem less rushed.


	7. The hunt

"No"

"What was that elf? I don't think I heard you?"

"I said no" legolas growled

"Ahhh that's what I thought I heard but then I thought to myself, not even an elf can be that stupid."

"Go burn in the deepest depths of mount doom you son of an orch." Legolas spat.

For some twisted reason this made Kole smile. He enjoyed seeing his elf with some spirit, It would make the task of breaking him that much more enjoyable.

"Still fiery I see. Looks like we have work to do. Don't feed 'im Jared, he needs to earn his meals."

"Aye boss, but what 'bout water he ain't drunk in days?"

Speaking back to kole didnt come easily to the young man, for he had seen what happens to those who angered the man. But the elf would surely die if he didnt drink, and surely that would anger the man even more, right?

"That's his choice." Kole replied while glaring at Jared.

turning back to Legolas, the man smiled in a way that only a mad man could smile. "So elf, anything smart to say?" he sneared.

Legolas had many things he wished to say to this man, but refrained from doing so. He needed this man to believe he was winning, so if that meant faking some level of obedience then so be it.

"No." He said blatently while trying to look as if he was uninterested in anything the man had to say, although the glare he gave the man undermined his nonchalant act. This particular glare he had stolen form his father. He had been on the receiving end of it enough to know that it could make the dark lord himself shrivel.

Uncomfortable with the look he was receiving from his insolent elf Kole smirked before patting Legolas head. He knew how much this annoyed his elf, and far be it for him to show the uneasy he was feeling due to the elfs piercing eyes.

"well boy. You dont seem to be learning your place it would seem. Let it not be said elves are quick learners."

Fumming Legolas had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something he knew he would regret. Well not regret. Insulting this man again would bring legolas to much joy to ever really regret saying it, but the voice of his old tutor forced him to refram. ' And no matter what do not antagonise your enemy, it will only lead to more violence.' Maybe his tutor had a point but it was so tempting. The prince was snapped out of his musings by the horrid sound of his tormentors voice.

"If you behave today elf I might consider putting that knew leash I brought for you too use. Would you like that my elf?"

Legolas pride began to scream at him. No way in Mandos was Legolas pride ever going to let this man lead him around on a leash like he was some kind of dog. His soul on the other hand was betraying his pride. His woodelf spirit was suffocating in this run down shed. He needed to see the sun again and feel her warm rays grace his skin, but most of all he needed to communicate with nature again. He missed his trees and woodland companions. They were always there to comfort him whenever he was feeling alone, and they never failed to chear him up after he had fought with his father.

He sighed while reminiscing in his memories. That is until Kole got impatient waiting for 'his' elf to reply.

Snap, the back of the princes head connected with the pole he was tied too, and a warm liquid began to drip down his neck. The prince struggled not to groan or make any sound, for that would surely only increase the mad mans pleasure. Kole smiled obviously enjoying watching legolas attempts to clear his vision.

"Look at me elf. I expect you to reply when I ask you a question, is that clear?" Kole demanded

"Y..yes." Legolas stammered. He was still struggling not to groan in pain as the slap from the man had been powerful and unexpected.

"Good. Now do you want to come into town with me later while on your new leash?"

The mans toothy smile reminded Legolas of a warg waiting to attack it's pray. Which in a way this man was. He was waiting for Legolas to say or do something wrong so that he could punish him in a no dougt painful way.

"I would like that." Legolas replied while looking down in shame. He couldn't look in the mans smug face, but he was desperate. He hadn't eaten in about a week, and he had been deprived of nature way to long.

"That's my good little elf. I'll be back for you later then." Kole replied smugly. He was beginning to break his elf and this made him excited. A tame elf doubles it's selling price.

* * *

It's been a week. All negotiations were called off while the elves searched for their prince. The officials of the town had been cold and didn't offer any assistance with the search, so it was with hopeless faces that the elves returned from searching one last time.

"Sir we can't give up he's out there somewhere." Keldir pleaded

"Penneth I know you and the prince are friends but the rest of us are just as desperate to find our prince as you. Can you imagine what Thranduil is going to say, personally I'll be surprised if he doesn't fade, but we have to face the facts. There has been no sign of the prince since the day of his disappearance, and we need to inform the king."

"But.. what if we leave and Legolas escapes only to realize that I've abandoned him here?"

Finrod sighed. "I may not know you well young one but from what I've observed you and the prince have a strong friendship, am I correct?"

"Y..yes?"

"And if you were captured instead of Legolas do you believe he would leave you?"

"No never!"

"Exactly you need to have more faith in your friendship. Legolas trusts you just as you trust him. He knows you would never truly leave him unless you had too."

Keldir may not like the older elf but his reasoning was unarguable. I suppose that's why he's the top councillor? Keldir thought to himself.

"You're right sir but I still don't wish to leave him here."

Patience was something Finrod prided himself on having, but this little elf was pushing his limits.

"We have no other choice. If we go home we can inform the King of the situation and request more Elves to join the search. If I know the king he won't spare any expense in the search for his child."

Keldir caved. As much as he wished to stay and look for his prince he had run out of arguments to convince Finrod to let him. "Ok sir I understand"

"Good now pack your things we leave at first light tomorrow."

The young elf nodded before heading towards his sleeping roll. Suspicion and fear was all the elves were greeted with within the town so they had chosen to set up camp just outside of the town walls, it seemed like the safer option.

Keldir was young and not well travelled so his mind struggled to process this reception. 'Why would they fear us? Have we hurt their town somehow? Maybe they just don't understand us? But if that's the case then why are they so cold towards us?'

Completely confused by the secondborns behaviour Keldir laid down and let his eyes glase over in Elven sleep. Though no pleasent dreams would grace his sleep this night.

* * *

Thanks for Reading


	8. consequences

9

"Legolas! Legolas! Please answer me Mellon nin...I'm so sorry this is all my fault."

Keldir found himself looking at the bloodied form of his friend lying deathly still on a cold stone floor a mere 3 metres from himself, with no knowledge of how he got there. "Wake up please. Say something anything I don't care what."

Keldir felt panic rising within him, threatening to take his ability to breath. Paralyzed his feet refused to move, to take him to his prince. Never before had the young elf felt so powerless. To be so close to his friend but unable to save him, it hurt him more than any weapon ever could. "Seas, seas... Legolas I need you, please get up."

"Wake up penneth it's time to go home."

Gasping as if he had been deprived of air for too long Keldir jolted upwards only to collide head first with something solid.

Biting back a particularly nasty elvish curse the aforementioned something solid fell backwards onto the dirt.

"I'm sorry are you okay?" Keldir questioned the soldier who had fallen next to him.

"Aye I'm fine penneth? May I ask what caused such an abrupt awakening?"

Keldir cringed internally. Elves didn't sleep like those of the second born. Instead they would visit the realm of dreams and relive past memories, but the main difference between elvish rest and that of the second born is elves can control which memories they revisit. This is what made Keldir reluctant to share his dream with the other elf, only elfings tended to have trouble controlling their dream scapes.

"I forgot my whereabouts and wasn't expecting to be awoken, I must apologise for my actions." Keldir finally spoke. He was blushing horribly but couldn't for the life of him stop. 'maybe the prince isn't they only one who can't lie?' he found himself wondering. Before he could ponder this any further he found the soldier was looking at him with a decidedly disbelieving look.

"If you do not wish to tell me what it was you were dreaming about that's ok, but you should know that it's ok to be experiencing some nightmares considering the circumstances. You just lost a close friend, give yourself some time to come to terms with that."

"I thank you for your concern, but I ask that you reframed from talking about the prince like he is dead. He's merely missing, and I will not lose hope until I see his body with my own eyes."

"Of course young one. I didn't mean to insinuate anything, you're hope and loyalty to the prince is admirable."

"Thank you. I didn't mean to snap at you it's just.."

"No don't worry about it little one. You are worried about your friend you have every right to be a little short tempered. If you ever need someone to talk to I'll be here for you." And with that the soldier used one arm to push him of the ground and climbed to his feet. His other arm was still in the process of rubbing his throbbing forehead which was beginning to turn some interesting colours.

"Wait. What's your name?"

Keldir just realised he had never before talked to this elf and hadnt even bothered to learn his name, despite being in his company for the past week.

"Jorilion, now get up penneth the camps almost packed up and I expect we will be on the road before this hours over."

"Thank you Jorilion." Keldir smiled, for the first time since Legolas had gone missing. Although the smile didn't reach his eyes it was a step up from constant brooding.

Packing up his belongings Keldir began to contemplate his situation. 'Legolas is somewhere in that accursed town of suspicious power hungry secondborn, and I'm about too head in the opposite direction. This isn't right. Legolas would never leave me behind, even if it was the most logical thing to do. So why am I leaving him. It was my fault in the first place. It's my fault, I agreed to split even though I knew it was a stupid idea. I need to save him, preferable before it's too late.

It wouldn't even make a difference if I travelled home now. The whole point of going home is too update the king and to ask for reinforcements, neither of which I need to do, I'm sure Finrod will take care of that.' The internal debate that was going on inside his head had reached a close. He knew what he must do, all that was left to figure out was how he was going to leave without anyone noticing?

* * *

"Elf. I see you have been behaving yourself." Kole said in what Legolas decided was a very condescending tone.

"I didn't have much of a choice." The prince muttered darkly to himself.

"What was that elf?" Kole all but growled at the restrained elf.

This was the last straw for Legolas. He was so sick of being called elf, he had a name. This man was so possessive it made legolas feel like he was suffocating underneath a dark cloud of hatred. No more, If it meant getting whipped or beaten again then so be it. This man had been promising to take him outside for days now and never did, so the prince had given up hope in ever seeing the beauty of nature again. If being obedient wasn't going to help him then it was time to let this man know what he really thought.

"If I had wanted you to know what I said then I would have said it loud enough for your partially deaf human ears to hear me. And if you think for a second that you have broken me then think again, because no weak man like you could ever break me.

Legolas began to chuckled sarcastically. You want to own me like I'm some animal and show me off, so your pairs will think of you as powerful?, well you can't. Do you know why? You know what I'll tell you why.

You can't simply parade me around because then my father would learn of my whereabouts and if that happens you are as good as dead. That's right, you're small mortal brain seems to have forgotten that I am a living being and therefore have a family. A family that I know will be doing everything in their power to find me right now, and believe me when I say my father is not someone you want to get on the wrong side of."

"So do your worst human." Because eventually my father will find me, and when he does I'm going to enjoy watching him kill you." Legolas then paused and pretended to contemplate something of great importance. "He's famous for his ability to decapitate his enemies in one blow, I wonder if that's how he'll end your pitiful excuse of a life?"

Legolas let out a deep breath, it felt like a balrog had finally decided to abandon it's position on his chest and let him breath unrestricted again. This sensation convinced the prince that he had made the right choice. Well... that and the flabbergasted look on his captors face.

The look on his captors face quickly began to change into one of outrage.

"How dare you speak to me like that elf." He growled, though Legolas wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying instead he was studying the colour of the man's face. It was currently fluro red but it seemed to still be changing colours. If it continues to darken like this he's going to turn purple before exploding, legolas mused. Now that would be convenient, this thought made legolas chuckle. He could imagine returning to his father and reporting that he had annoyed his captor so much that his head exploded.

"You insult me, and then smile about it? You're going to regret that elf." Kole ground out through his clenched teeth.

"Make me." Legolas replied calmly with a antagonist smile in his face, which happened to annoy Kole even more.

"Oh I plan on it elf, believe me...I plan on it."

"Jared, grab his other arm. It's time he learnt some manors."

"Umm boss are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe we should just knock him out and leave him here? We could get to another town and dissapear before anyone could find us."

Jared had been listening to the elfs rant, and was now completely terrified of facing the elfs father. Kole may not be able to admit that he hadn't considered the elfs family but Jared had no problem admitting that he hadn't considered them. The idea of facing an enticed elven father, was terrifying enough to convince the man to speak back to Kole.

"Jared if you don't get over here and help me now then I will decapitate you myself." Kole growled with a murderous look on his face. Jarod had no problem believing that this man would follow through on his threat. So with that in mind he fell to his knees next to the elf and grabbed his arm.

"you weak coward." Legolas spat at the young man. "you're just as bad as he is."

Jarod shrivelled under the elven glare. "I k..know, I'm sorry." he stammered.

Next thing legolas knew he was chained to a old looking post that stood in the middle of the room. His feet were barely able to reach the ground so most of his weight was hanging from his arms which was beginning to make his shoulders throb under the strain. He was forced to face the pole which meant that he couldn't see the men behind him, and this left him feeling exposed.

"Anything to say elf?" Kole questioned, though it was obvious he didn't care what the elf said he was going to beat him anyway.

"yes actually, thanks for asking. I would like to point out once more that you are both cowards who are to afraid to fight me in a fair fight because you know you would lose. That's it for now I believe, you may carry on."

Legolas couldn't see the mans face but he could imagine Koles face was that unique shade of purple again, and Jared would probably look like he just wanted to run away.

Kole growled before stepping forward and ripping the princes shirt. "we'll see how long this arrogance lasts against the whip shall we." and with that the first stroke fell.

* * *

**sorry for the late update. TBH I had kind of given up on this story but I've decided to carry on. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Carona virus has finally reached New Zealand so things have been getting rather stressful. I'll try to update more regularly. Also I've been revamping my earlier chapters. There's no big changes just a bit more detail.**


	9. pain

10

He had lost track of how many times the whip had connected with his back. After the first few hits he had lost the ability to think about anything other than the all consuming pain. Blood trailing down his back and pooling at his feet, he concluded was a horrible sensation. Without even looking at the whip Legolas knew that it was very thin, so thin infact that Everytime it hit his back it would split his skin.

The prince hated to admit it but these men knew what they were doing. On the bright side though, Kole hadn't spoke since he started this assault and Legolas counted that as a blessing. This situation was bad enough without having to listen to Koles condescending voice.

Pain is what these men were after, and Legolas knew that. He knew that if he just cried out this hell would be over quicker, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead he continued to bite his lip and suppress every sound that tried to escape him. He refused to let these men see his pain, for that would mean accepting some level of defeat. He is the only child of King Thranduil after all, submission wasn't in his blood.

After what felt like hours of endless torture the prince could feel someone untying his wrists. This came as a surprise to the princes muddled brain because he hadn't noticed that the assault had finished. 'that's not good' the reasonable part of the princes phyche supplied.

"O..over so soon." He smiled when he saw the exhausted form if Kole. The man was dripping with sweat and clinging to his arm as if he had lost the ability to lift it anymore.

"Aye elf it's over for now. But don't worry we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow. I'm a busy man after all I can't spend all day dissaplining a disobediant rat like you now can I?"

Legolas winced internally. He didn't think he could handle another round of this torture, and if he was being honest the idea terrified him. This is something he would never let the man know though.

"Really? I c...can't wait for round two, but are you sure you can handle it, that a..arm seems to be giving you some trouble? Ahh that's the problem with m..mortal bodies, they are weak, fragile things." Legolas stated while shaking his head in mock sadness.

Kole immediately let go if the afformentioned arm and crouched down so he was eye level with the elf who was now back on the ground struggling to sit up without leaning his injured back against the wall.

"You are stubborn I'll give you that elf, but you will break. After all everyone has a limit be they man, elf, or dwarf. It's only a matter of time until we reach yours." With that said the man pulled back his arm only to send it full force into the princes chest.

Legolas was unprepared for this sudden assault and before he knew it his shredded back was colliding with the wall behind him. Gasping the prince saw red before losing his tedious grip on consciousness.

Kole let out a dark chuckle before standing to leave. "Nighty night elf. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that said the man was gone.

* * *

'It's now or never' Keldir decided. The elven delegation had been travelling for half a day in the direction of Mirkwood and had only now stopped for a lunch break. Finrod was busy conversing with one of the soldiers about the fastest route home, so was by definition too busy to notice one missing member.

without raising any of the soldiers suspicions Keldir began to make his way to his horse. Not much further now he thought to himself. If he could just reach the cover that the trees provided he would be ok, at least for awhile. 5 more steps...4,3,..2,.. as soon as he reached the cover of the trees he couldn't stop his hurried steps, which soon developed into a full fledged sprint though the forest in search of his horse. At this pace it didn't take him long to find the clearing where his horse was grazing.

Letting out a relieved sigh Keldir smiled when he found his beautiful mare watching him from across the clearing. To be honest he had not had much faith that his plan would work, but dispite his current success he knew eventually someone was bound to notice he was missing.

His horse was loyal there was no denying that, but she also had an air about her that made Keldir feel inferior. It was if she saw him as nothing more than a elfling, all be it a clumsy, irresponsible elfling who was in constant need of her protection. This mindset is exactly what prevented the head strong mare from bolting when her master suddenly came charging at her as if a warg pack was after him. In fact future Keldir would swear she looked at him with no small amount of amusement shinning in her eyes.

offering his mare a quick grin the elf in question leapt onto her back and gripped her mane. "it's time to go now, as fast as you can seas. The princes life may well depend on it."

Keldir didn't know if it was what he had said to his faithful steed that gave her the speed she had suddenly developed or merely his attitude, but she was running faster than he ever thought possible.

"Thank you Mellon." He murmured so that only his stead could hear.

3 Hours later:

After hours of riding Keldir couldn't help but contemplate the consequences of his actions. 'If my king was mad at me before I would hate to see him now.' This thought made Keldir wince. No one angered the king and lived to tell the tale. In fact Keldir could recall a story he had heard as a child where even the mighty Half-Elven lord of Imladris didnt get a free pass when it came to incurring his king's wraith.

Apparently, about 2 millennium ago a council was held in Imladris to disscuss the growing darkness. However this council was quickly brought to an end when the Noldor gravely offended the Silvan elves. Rumour has it the obnoxious Noldor sayod something uncomplimentary towards the late queen of Mirkwood. This part of the story had always been a mystery to the young elf though. No one ever mentioned what it was the Noldor said, but Keldir concluded it must have been rather horrible to warrent the breaking of the alliance between the two elven realms.

Snapping out of this particular train of though Keldir realised that he had made it back to the gates of what he deamed to be the most synical town he had ever come across. Groaning he began to dismount his horse, though not without a few oained groans. Apparently riding at an impossible speed for hours without a single break could leave even one of the first born with a few complaining muscles.

'Well I suppose I have to go in' keldir told himself, although the idea sent shivers down his spine. Standing there for another few minutes contemplating his options Keldir tried to find any possible excuse for not entering the dark, suspicious town that loomed in front of him. Sadly before he had managed to find an excuse he found himself being propelled forward after receiving a not so gentle nudge from his mare.

"Ok I'm going." he grumbled while giving his mare a gentler version of his kings death stare. Although he would have sworn that his look just made her smirk.

"If you want to be feed tonight I'd wipe that smug expession of your face." growled the elf, while his horse gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look. With a last nudge of her head the strong mare walked proudly, and protectively next to her master.

* * *

**seas= please in sindarin**

**Noldor elves= elves usually from Imladris/Rivendell, but are also found in Lorien.**

**Silvan= Elves generally from Mirkwood.**

**New Zealand is officially in a nation wide lock down so it looks like I'm gonna have a lot of time on my hands. Hopefully this means I'll be updating more regularly. thank you again to Mustard Lady your comments always make me smile, and thank you to** **dream plane I'm glad your enjoying my story.**


	10. wake up call

11

"Boss what we gonna do 'bout the elf? I don't think we can keep him anymore, someone will see him eventually, and I don't wanna meet his father sir." Jared stammered with a petrified look frozen on his face. A look that only served to make Kole smiled. He loved the fact that this man feared him.

Though the question the younger man posed was no smiling matter. In fact this was something that kole had been debating already. As much as he hated that elf and wanted nothing more than to see him snap and submit to him, the elfs speech had rattled him too.

"I know Jared, believe me I know. We can't keep him forever, but I ain't getting rid of him till he's a broken pitiful excuse of his former self." It was clear to see on the man's face that he was looking forward to torturing the elf further. It was the wicked gleam in his eye that gave him away. The sort of gleam that only someone who enjoyed causing extreme pain to another living being could possibly have.

This gleam is what encouraged Jared to bow his head in agreement before trying to respectfully walk away. He wanted out of this conversation and quickly.

"Wait!" Koles voice boomed when he realised the other mans intent to leave. "Where do you think your going?"

"Ah n...no where s..sir I was just..."

"Stop your stammering boy I no longer care. I want you back here in an hour. Oh and bring a bucket of water. I think our elfs going to need a wake up call after the way we left him."

"And Jared one last thing. I want you to invite everyone else. They should be there when I break this elf."

"Y..yes sir." And with that said the young man high tailed it towards anywhere that this homicidal man wasn't.

* * *

Splash. "Ah good morning Elfie, did ya have a good sleep? I'm afraid we couldn't let you sleep anymore, we made plans yesterday remember? We wouldn't want you to feel neglected after all."

Legolas had been in and out of consciousness all night and was currently exhausted. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to sleep, because he very much wanted too, but everytime he'd fallen asleep he would be awoken by the most horrific pain he had ever felt.

Any movement he would make in his sleep would cause his shredded back to reopen and bleed as if he had received another whipping. Before long It began to feel like he was being burned alive over and over again, so after awhile the prince became to afraid to fall asleep and instead he did everything in his power to keep his eyes open.

Though he must have given into sleep sometime this morning because he was rudely awoken by an icy bucket of water being dumped on his head.

Spluttering the young prince tried to clear his vision, but was only successful to a certain degree. He was currently looking at what he guessed to be 8 blobs towering over him. 'Thats odd.' The princes addled brain supplied. 'Ive never been woken up by blobs before. I don't think I like it.'

It wasn't until the closest blob began to speak that Legolas brain began to fill in the blanks.

'Oh this isn't good.' he thought to himself with a with a wiry grin on his face. 'I've begun to state the obvious.'

'Huh? I'm so very insightful today.' The prince concluded, which just made him smile more. 'well Ive officially lost my mind, what's Ada going to say.'

Unfortunately he didn't have the opportunity to ponder his Ada's possible reactions to finding out his only son and heir and lost his mind though. Before he even knew what was happening a fist connected with his midsection. Legolas could only guess that the man who had done this was intending to push his insides out through his back.

"I..I'm s..sorry did y..you say someth..thing?" Legolas asked in his most innocent voice.

"Aye elf I did, but don't you worry about that we have things to do."

It took a while for Legolas deprived brain to recall what the man had said yesterday, but when he did remember all of his previous humour faded.

"Ahh I see you remember our conversation from yesterday, that's good my little elf, are ya ready for round two?" Kole asked in a conversational tone.

Legolas let out a rather descriptive elvish curse that involve Kole being burned alive in mount doom before being eaten alive by a balrog.

Kole may not have understood what the elf had said but he did understand the general tone, and he would not tolerate such open dissobediance especially in front of all his men. So growling Kole pulled out his knife and sliced through the rope that bound the prince to the wall.

Legolas had been relying on that rope to stay upright and without it he collapsed forward onto the cold dirty ground. Although this wasn't ideal he found himself thanking the Valar that he hadn't fallen on to his back. If that had happened he wouldn't have just developed an infection but he would probably have passed out again.

As he lay their bare chested and weak he hear a collective gasp. It took him a while to figure out that it was probably his back that they were Gasping at. If it looked even half as bad as it felt then it was probably pretty ugly.

"What are ya looking at, pick him up and tie him to that pole." Kole growled at his men, though he wasn't nearly as angry as he was pretending to be. Infact he would have been more angry if his men hadn't been amazed by his handy work. His anger did begin to rise though when he noticed none of his men had moved yet, despite his order.

"Pick him up now or you'll be joining him on that pole." This turned out to be the perfect incentive, for the men were snapped out of their shocked states almost immediately.

Grabbing the elf, the men hauled him over to the pole and secured his hands above his head. Luckily his back wasn't against the pole. That is until he realised that these animals were probably planning on hurting his abused back.

"Good. Now let's start off where we finished yesterday shall we?"

Legolas couldn't help but compare this man's tone to that of a young elfling getting told they can have a second helping of blueberry pie.

He couldn't see what Kole was doing but Legolas could sense that he was holding that accursed whip again. He's probably caressing it like one does a loved one, the sarcastic part of Legolas brain supplied.

'whack.' Apparently Kole had decided to have an experiment test of the whip, and much to Legolas embarrassment he flinched rather violently.

"Ah, ah elf, don't be to hasty we haven't started yet." Koles voice could be heard teasing the elf.

Legolas couldn't help but shudder. He hated to admit it even to himself but he was terrified of this man. That by no means meant that he would submit though. He may be terrified but he would do everything in his power to make sure that this man never knew that.

"Ya ready elf? Ah well we need to start now anyway, I want to spend as much time with you today as possible." And with that said the first stroke hit the princes abused back.

It hurt so much. Legolas could feel the tears welling up in his eyes but he wouldn't let them drop not yet. 1..2..3..4..5? Legolas was beginning to lose count. 'There can't be any skin left on my back?' Legolas thought to himself. It certainly felt like there wasn't any.

After about the 15 stroke the young prince could feel himself losing control. It was becoming harder not to cry out and beg these men to stop, in fact he had already lost the battle with his tears. They had traitorously begun to fall by the 10th stroke but luckily his long blood encrusted hair was covering his face.

18..19..20. Stroke 20 was particularly nasty, either that or Legolas back had just reached a new level of shredded. That was it. He couldn't handle anymore pain so when stroke 21 fell the prince cried out.

"Good, so our little elf isn't mute after all. I was beginning to wonder." Kole was obviously over joyed that the prince had finally screamed. He was beginning to feel like his men were judging him.

"P..please stop." The logical part of the princes mind knew that this was unlikely to help matters, but the desperate part of his mind won out. By this point he was in to much pain to even care that he had just given these men what they wanted. He just wanted this torture to stop.

This made Kole pause, as if he was really contemplating the princes request. But this just turned out to be another cruel trick, he got the princes hopes up just so that he could smash them down again.

"I'm sorry Elfie but we're only half way. we still have your front to do." was his final answer.

Legolas could feel rough hands gripping his shoulders just before he was flipped around. The moment his back hit the post he cried out in his pain induced delerium, and unfortunately in this position he could see his torturers grinning face.

"Alright elf, I'm gonna give you 50 lashings to your front ok? but first I have one question. Who do you belong to? Keep in mind elf that if you give me an answer I don't like then the lashings will double.

Legolas thought about this question. He couldn't bow to this man. Could he? The pain of 100 lashings became forefront in his mind. 'I can't. I can't take another 100.'

He found himself almost hyperventilating at the idea of taking another 100 lashes, he was terrified.

"y..you." he stammered.

"What was that elf?"

"I be..belong to y..you."

"Good boy." Kole stepped forward until his face was a few mere inches from the princes. "I told you everyone has their limit." As he said this he reached towards the princes face and reveled in the way the elf flinched. "Ah, ah elf stay still." He then proceeded to wipe away one of the elfs tears with his thumb.

"It's time to start now my elf." He said while grinning. That crazed glint present in his eyes again.

As promised the torture continued, but the prince didn't hold back his reactions this time. He was broken. This monster had taken everything from him. It was somewhere near the 40th hit that the prince finally lost his battle with consciousness, and was aloud to escape into the blissful realm of unsconciousness.

* * *

The first thing the prince noticed when he woke up was that the abuse had stopped. His torso felt horrible still, but for some reason he was lying on something soft?

After some contemplation he decided that it must be grass. Why am I on grass? He wondered. Luckily for him some dissembodied voices were prepared to answer his questions.

"Boss are you sure we should do this?"

"You said yourself that we must get rid of him. Now man up and grab his legs."

Suddenly all the pieces fell into place these men were going to kill him. He began to struggle but soon realised that he couldn't move. All of the abuse his body had endured had left him incredibly weak, so weak that even his eyes refused to open.

Even though he knew it was coming he was still surprised when two sets of hands grabbed his arms and legs and hoisted him into the air.

'This isn't good.'

That was his last conscious thought before he was dropped into what felt like an icy abyss.

* * *

**Hey, thanks everyone for Reading. As you probably already know I'm on lock down because of Corona. Yes even New Zealand, the home of the hobbits has been hit. I just want to say stay safe everyone**


	11. River Ride

12

Cold. So cold. The river at this time of year was always particularly violent, but after the relentless rain that had plagued this area it was the highest it had been in years.

Although none of this occured to the prince as he was dragged down stream for his mind was currently on more important things like surviving.

In fact it was taking all of the princes strength to not let go of his quickly weakening grip on consciousness. Pain, but so much worse. It was an excruciating pain that exploded though his beaten and battered body everytime he smashed into a unrelenting rock.

'Valar above, I'm going to die.' Legolas frantic mind was currently looking for any possible way to make it too the surface, but alas it wasn't possible. With his hands and legs still bound thanks to those cowardly edain, he could do nothing to propel himself upwards.

His mind began to slow down against his will. Even if he could find a way to push himself upwards his body had no energy left, it would be wishful thinking to think he could actually pull himself out of this violent river.

'Crack.' He hadn't even seen the rock coming before he was suddenly slammed into it. Letting out a choked scream as his ribs cracked upon impact, the prince felt as if he had snapped in half. As the last of the desperate elf's oxygen fled his lungs so did his hope.

He had given up, the pain was just to much. 'My Ada will understand.' Was his last conscious thought before he finally gave into the encroaching darkness.

* * *

Agh.' Keldir couldn't help but feel frustrated. After all everywhere he went in this Valar forsaken town he was treated with suspicion and anger. As much as he wanted to leave and be among his own people again, he was here for a reason.

It had been three days since he had returned to Laketown but so far he had no solid leads on his prince. When he first arrived he had searched for an open minded inn keeper, but that alone was no easy fear. In fact he had been to six inns before he had finally found one that was willing to house him, although he did have to pay double.

'Greedy, selfish, honorless people.' Keldir had taken to insulting the residents of this town on a regular basis, for It helped to curb his anger towards them. 'Id like to see how they would come in an elven realm surrounded by nothing but hatred and loathing. Maybe that would open their minds a little. What do they expect me do to that's so horrible anyway?' This particular thought had occured to the elf many times over the last few days and he had come up with some pretty unique ideas.

'Maybe they expect me to suck their blood, or Steal their children? Or maybe even use dark magic to corrupt them?' Who knows maybe I'll even get hungry and eat a few of them.' This made Keldir snort, 'they wouldn't even taste that good.' By this point he couldn't help but laugh. Maybe their craziness is rubbing off.

The amused elf, walked over to the small window in his room to check on Anors position in the sky. Unfortunately she was sinking behind the hills. For keldir that meant it was time to head downstairs and take up his usual position at the back of the inn. He had done this every night since he had arrived. Sitting with his hood up and head down he would try to learn anything from the towns population of drunk men on legolas whereabouts.

So far he hadn't over heard anything of importance, but that didn't mean he was ready to give up. So grabbing his cloak he headed down stairs.

Sir." Keldir nodded to the inn keeper, and received the expected grunt as a response. He still couldn't figure out what this grunt meant, but he didn't really care. As long as he was allowed to sit and observe, then this man could make any gutteral sounds he wanted.

Before long the regular crowd began to shuffle in, and begin their daily routine of grunting, drinking, yelling, fighting, and lastly passing out drunk.

It was the second stage that interested Keldir. After a few drinks the men would become very boisterous and open.

"Boy. Drink." While Keldir has been contemplating the men's behaviour a particularly large man had made his way over to his table and was now offering him a drink?

"Uh no thank you." Keldir replied without making eye contact with the man. From what he could see this man was not someone he wanted to get on the wrong side of, nor was he someone with much intelligence.

"Why not?" The man asked in obvious confusion.

"I..I..ok" Keldir sighed. There was no getting out of this situation.

"Good. What's ya name lad, I don't recognize you. Maybe if ya took off that hood?"

"No, I'd rather keep it on. I got in a fight early and I didn't come out unscathed if you get my meaning." Keldir considered this very quick thinking on his behave, and quite believable which even he found surprising.

"Ahh. I do lad, I've been in that position a few times myself. My name's Fraden." And with that it offered a meaty hand. Shaking hands wasn't a common part of Elven culture but Keldir had seen this gesture enough to understand what to do.

So reaching out he shook the mans hand.

"I'm Kel. It's good to meet you." This seemed like a common enough thing to say, but for some reason it caused the man to stare at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Is everything ok?" The elf questioned

"Aye, it's just ya name it sounds familiar. Maybe I over heard it somewhere? Anyway what ya do boy?

Keldir found himself letting out a over due breath he hadn't realised he was holding in, when suddenly an idea came to him.

"I work with Kole." He said in the most relaxed voice he could summon. After all he had cause to be worried, he didn't know wether this man knew Kole or not. 'he knows I'm lying. I'm going to have to fight him. Then I'm going to have to look for new lodgings.' Keldir groaned. 'Why did I say that?'

"That explains why your so flighty. Ya must have seen Koles performance this morning. I didn't see you there?"

"Aye I was there. I was standing at the back."

"Don't worry lad, as long as ya stay on his good side y'all never have to worry about being in that elf's place."

Keldir struggled to keep up a neutral facade. 'Elf. He said elf. That has to be Legolas, but what is this performance he's talking about?'

"Aye. I wouldn't want to be in his place that's for sure."

Keldir didn't know what else to say. As much as he wanted to keep this conversation going, he didn't know what to ask without risking this man figuring out he wasn't actually there.

Luckily the man felt like talking. "To be honest with ya, I was sad to see that elf go. I've been curious about them elves for a while now. I've heard people saying they can force nature to do things for them. Imagine that?"

"Aye that would be strange. What do you mean about the elf though, where did he go? He knew this was risky but he had to ask.

"Ya mustn't have stayed till the end then. I wouldn't blame ya, anyway boss said that the elf was a gonna once he was broken. I think he said something about throwing him in the river, but I'm not sure. It was the smart thing to do though, couldn't risk those elves finding him here, especially looking the way he did."

"He threw him in the river." Keldir growled at the man. His initial shock had warn off and now he was left with this over whelming anger.

"Aye, like I said he had no other option. It was a waste really."

"No other option. No other option. You unsympathetic traitorous son if an orc." At an impressive speed Keldir lunged over the table, unsheathing one of his twin swords in the process. This man would pay. Striking with vengeance the furious elf managed to graze the mans rib cage just before the man dived to the floor.

Red. It's all he could see. He wanted this man's blood, and the blood of every man who had bared witness to the murder of his friend.

In the process of his attack his hood had fallen backwards leaving all of his elven features exposed, but he didn't care. Let the last thing this man sees be an elf, it was very poetic.

"You're an elf." the man said in astonishment while getting to his feet.

"Aye I'm an elf, and more than that, I was that elf's friend. The one your boss threw in a river after what sounds like torturing him in a most horrific way.

To say the man was surprised would be an understatement. he had currently drawn his sword but looked too shocked to actually use it. Instead he just stood their staring at the irate elf, which just managed to anger Keldir further. "Aren't you going to beg me for your life?" Keldir questioned. For he could tell this man had no intention to fight him, and to be honest Keldir couldn't blame him. Seeing Elven fury up close could be very terrifying.

"Would you let me live if I did?" The man asked.

Keldir thought about it for a moment. The first thing you learn when becoming a warrior is to never attack a surrendered opponent, but to hell with the rules this man stood by and watched his prince get tortured, why should he show him any mercy.

"No. No I don't think I would, but if you tell me where your boss is I might just consider it."

This made the man pause. Ratting out Kole definitely had it's down sides but dying at the hands of this furious elf seemed much worse.

"He lives on the street closest to the market. In a blue house on the corner, I think?

"You think." Keldir growled.

"I..I know."

"Ok, but if your lying to me I will hunt you down and kill you in a most slow, and painful way. Now if I was you I'd run because if I ever see you again you are as good as dead. Do you understand me?"

"Aye. I understand." And with that said. he took of running never looking back.


	12. Second Chance

13 Second Chance

He couldn't move, but to be honest he didn't know if he really wanted to. His pain had reached levels that the prince didn't even know were possible. As far as he was concerned a Balrog had decided to give him an aggressive hug, while a pack of orcs used him as a punching bag.

Sighing internally the prince came to the conclusion that if he had the choice he would rather be attacked by a Balrog than embraced by it. Smiling, he knew it was a stupid thing to contemplate, but it made the situation seem less scary so he really didnt care.

'If my father could hear my thoughts then he would surely reprimand me for wasting time.' legolas groaned as he felt a sharp pain erupt in his chest at the thought of his father, he missed him dearly. In an attempt to take his mind off of his father the prince let his mind wander and eventually found his way to the question, 'where am I?'

He couldn't help but wonder about his current situation, because by all means he should be residing in Mandos halls by now?' After all the last thing he could remember was drowning at the bottom of a river with no hope of survival.

Lying there pondering this thought he couldn't help the overwhelming sense that someone was watching him. 'I need to get up, I need to get up now.' Using his arms to lever his body up, he made it a total of three inches before collapsing onto his back with a groan.

Realising he needed a new plan the prince began to look for a means of escape that didnt require him moving a muscle, but soon descovered the hoplessness of this plan. It was then that he realised he was covered in...something? Something soft, and... was he dry?

'opening my eyes would surely help?' He thought to himself, amazed that he hadn't come to that conclusion a long time ago, but unfortunately this was easier said than done. Apparently some horrible person had decided to turn his eye lids into lead for no apparent reason, and now they refused to open.

"Hello." Legolas jumped in surprise. Someone was next to him. Someone very young by the sounds of it. Fueled by his curiosity and the adrenaline from the shock, he made another attempt to pry his eyes open.

To the princes immense disappointment all he could see once he pried his eyes open were blobs of colour. "Not this again." He groaned.

"I don't know what your saying, I don't speak fairy? But mummy said I shouldn't wake you. Did I wake you?"

'Didn't speak fairy?' Definitely someone young the prince concluded, and female. Legolas couldn't bring himself to speak the human language. He was too tired to try and navigate that particular challenge, he simply didn't have the energy. So again he spoke in elvish more to himself than to the little girl. "It's o..ok, I didn't think I would wake up anyway?"

"Fraya leave the man alone, he needs to rest." A Stern but friendly voice sounded from across the room.

"But Daddy the fairy woke up and I didn't want him to be lonely."

"He woke up? Go fetch your mother Freya I'll look after the elf."

"Ok daddy."

Legolas could hear light footsteps heading away from him, but he found he was more concerned with the particularly heavy ones coming towards him.

'Who is this man. What does he want. Does he work for Kole. Maybe this is all an elaborate trick of Koles. He wants me to build up a sense of safety only to come and tear it all down again.'

Before he could speculative further he was pulled out of his thoughts by a rough voice.

"Is it true elf. Are you awake?"

Legolas turned his head to look at the man. Well the blurry out line of the man anyway, but he didn't speak. 'Why bother?' The prince thought to himself.

'Can you hear me?' The man asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

The prince picked up on this concern but he was confused as to why the man sounded concerned 'Surely he doesn't really care about my health?'

"Elf, can you hear me." The man asked again a little louder this time.

Legolas flinched much to his embarrassment when the man suddenly raised his voice. With a internal roll if his eyes the prince reprimanded himself for his obvious display of fear.

"So you can hear me then." The man concluded "I'm sorry for raising my voice elf. I'm just worried about you, I thought you were as good as dead. After all no man could have survived what you have."

Continuing to just watch the man, Legolas tried to make out some of the man's features. From what he could tell this man had shoulder length black hair and strong broad shoulders. If Legolas had to guess he would say the man was in his late 30s.

Seeing the elf watching him Samir began to feel very uncomfortable. Something about the elfs eyes made him feel unnerved. It was almost as if a man who had seen many decades was looking back at him, but that's impossible, right? This elf looked to be no older that 18. Samir felt the awkward silence descend while he was deep in thought so he decided to continue talking, dispite the fact that the elf probably wouldn't understand him.

"You're probably wondering how you ended up here? Well, my sons found you washed up by the river and brought you home. I have to say my wife and I were quite shocked to see our boys bring home a half dead elf. Here the man chuckled. It was a deep throaty chuckle like all men had but it lacked the malice and contempt that Kole and his men had. In fact this man's laugh made the prince feel somewhat less afraid.

"My wife's the town healer so she did her best to fix you up. I have to admit It was touch and go there for a while there, but once your fever broke a couple days ago my wife said you stood a good chance of waking up. I am Samir son of Lomir, and the little scamp from early is my daughter Freya. I hope she wasn't a bother."

' Where did these people come from, and did this man say his fever broke days ago? How long have I been here?' It seemed the more the prince learnt the more confused he became much to his chagrin.

"Mir, is he really awake?" A soft feminine voice asked.

"Aye Valen, he woke up. But take it slow I don't think he speaks our language."

"Rubbish, he speaks our language just find he's just being stubborn." The women replied

"How do you know that?"

"He was rambling lots while I was trying to bring his fever down, I assume he was having fever induced hallucinations." By now the women had made it over to the prince, and noticed his ears turn a deep red.

"You...you can understand me?" The man turned to Legolas with a slightly annoyed look on his face, which only served to make the prince blush more.

"I...didn't mean to d..deceive you, I'm s...sorry." Legolas stammered. His manors won over his fear.

"Ahh so he can understand us." Legolas was confused for it was the women who said this. 'Why would she be surprised, she already knew that?'

Seeing the confused look on both her husband's and the elfs face the women smiled. "I'm sorry child, you weren't talking in your sleep. Well not anything I could understand anyway. I just told you that to see your reaction. You have to admit my devious plan worked."

Legolas was dumbfounded. This women looked like a small friendly blob, he did not expect her to do something as cunning as that.

"Yes honey, your plan worked but it seems to have upset our guest. I heard elves can't lie, maybe he can't comprehend what you did?"

"Hm is that true little one?" The women asked with quite a bit of concern shinning in her eyes.

She didn't mean to upset her patient but it's much easier to treat someone who you know understands you.

Legolas just looked at the lady with a look of pure confusion. He had struggled to keep up with the conversation but one thing had caught his attention, she called him 'little one.'

"Honey can you get him some water please, something seems wrong? Are you ok?"

Legolas realising that this last question was directed at him tried to come up with a suitable response in his head. Something along the lines of 'yes I'm fine thank you, or no I'm in immense pain and very confused may I go home, both seemed like great options. But unfortunately the inly thing that came out if his mouth was "Im not little."

He groaned internally yet again. 'That sounded so childish how could I have said that?'

Meanwhile the women just grinned. "Of course not honey you're huge."

This made Legolas blush perfusely, he knew she was just teasing him, but he surely looked like a child now. After all he was lying there rapped up in blankets complaning that he wasn't small and blushing when he's told otherwise.

'Could this get any worse.' He groaned to himself.

Seeing the elfs embarrassment Valen decided to carry on with the conversation.

"So you probably already know my husband and of course you've met Freya, she believes your a fairy you know?"

"Legolas nodded he had heard the child call him a fairy earlier. At the time he was more confused by it than anything but now he was just plan embarrassed.

Valen spotted the red tinge creeping back into the elfs ears and smiled.

"Dont worry about it, I'm sure she'll believe your an elf soon enough."

All Legolas could do was nod again.

"Well aside from Freya I have two more children, both boys. The eldest is 15, and lately hes become obsessed with travelling. Hes called Henrod after my father but everyone just calls him Hen.

George is the middle child hes just turned 8, but hes the complete opposite of Hen. He's decided he never wants to leave town, instead he'll just work with his father." Valen chuckled. "I believe he'll change his mind though. All sons worship their fathers but eventually hes going to have dreams of his own, and when that happens I dont believe anyone will be able to change his mind. All the men in this family are as stubborn as mules."

Legolas smiled, he liked this women she had a strong but comforting soul that reminded him of his ada.

Legolas felt his eyelids grow heavy, as he relaxed and listened to this womens story. He felt safer than he had in a long time.

"ah ah little one, you need to stay awake just a little longer I need to check you over for injuries before you fall back a sleep. I shouldnt have talked for so long but I wanted you to feel safe around me, I'm sorry."

Legolas was instantly awake. He did not like the idea of having yet another human touch him, even if this one didnt want to hurt him.

Unfortunately Samir chose this moment to return with a glass of water for him, so Valen didnt see the fear her words awoke within the prince.

"Thank you honey I was just telling the young one that it was time to check on his wounds, will you help me sit him up?"

"Of course." It was now that Samir glanced at Legolas and noticed the fear in his eyes. "But Val I don't think our elf friend wants that?"

Val turned to the injured elf now as well and noticed the fear in his eye. "What is it little one, I promise we'll be as careful as possible?"

"I...I can sit up by myself." Legolas stammered while trrying to push himself up with all the strength he had left. Unfortunately though, it was no where near enough and he soon found himself collapsing.

The moment Valen had realised what the elf was doing she rushed over to stop him but unfortunately he had already fallen.

"You silly elf what were you thinking? You're not strong enough to be trying that on your own yet."

As she reached out to help the elf reposition himself, she noticed him violently flinch.

He was afraid she would hurt him. Now it all made sense, he didnt want to be touched. She should have guessed something like this would happen. She had seen the wounds after all, and knew that this elf had been tortured. "How could I be so stupid." She groaned.

"Val what is it?" Samir hadnt seen the princes reaction but he had heard his wife's harsh words.

"I believe he doesnt want to be touched." She sighed.

Samir suddenly realised why his wife believed herself to be at fault. They had both discussed the elfs wounds the night he arrived and decided that torture was the only explanation.

"Its not your fault hun he's just a little afraid. He'll learn to trust us soon enough. How about we just talk to him for a while longer." He wispered to his wife.

"You're right Samir, we'll just need to be patient."

The couple then turned back to the exhausted elf. Apparently that little tirade had used up all of his energy and he was back to just struggling to stay awake.

"We still dont know your name little one, and I know you would probably apreciate it if we stopped calling you little one."

Legolas looked at the smiling couple. He definitely didnt want them knowing he was royalty, they could use him against his Ada. He liked these people but he didn't trust them enough to tell them that particular secret.

What could he tell them then? Suddenly he knew. "m..my names L..Las."

"We'll its nice to officially meet you Las." Valen replied.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading:)**


	13. Fear

14

Valen spent hours talking to the prince about nothing of great importance with the hope that it would ease his fears, but unfortunately he still refused to be touched.

About an hour after the first incident Val had tried to approach the elf again. She took it slowly, but it didn't seem to make a difference he was still terrified.

"I..I'm sorry." Legolas whispered with tears in his eyes. He could see how much it hurt this lady to see him recoil from her touch but he couldn't help it.

"Don't you apologise little one, you have done nothing wrong." The kind women smiled down at him. Although it was a sad smile, full of empathy, Legolas found comfort in it. It was nice to see something other than open contempt on someone's face when they were looking at him.

Relaxing again Legolas Looked around for the first time since he awoke. The first thing he noticed was a couple of chairs that Samir must have dragged over during the women's story. Apparently he had sensed that it might be a while before Legolas trusted them enough to let them help him.

Moving on he noticed he was in what appeared to be a tidy...bedroom? This revelation awoke panic in the elf. 'Oh no' he thought to himself, 'I've taken their room.'

"I... I m..move." He stammered while renewing his efforts to get up.

Valen could do nothing but sit in shock and watch, as Samir decided that it was his turn to calm the elf. Jumping out of his chair at a surprising speed he approached Las.

"Elf stop your struggling and tell me what's going through that head of yours!" He all but yelled.

Legolas froze. 'Oh no I've angered them. I'm in their bed and I've angered them, could this get any worse.'

Samir didn't have the calm friendly demeanor of his wife but he knew how to get the elfs attention. "Now, are you going to tell me what's got you so riled up?" He questioned the obviously frightened being.

"I..I'm sorry. I.. I made you a..angry and I'm in y..your bed." Legolas said without making eye contact with the man. He was afraid to see the oh so familiar look of disgust and anger he had gotten used to seeing on men's faces.

Visibly softening upon hearing the elfs shaky voice Samir sat down again. "I'm sorry for scaring you lad, but if you keep moving like that then you are going to tear my wife's stitches. Do you understand me?"

Unable to speak Legolas just offered a meek nod.

"Good. Now my wife and I put you in our bed, that was our choice so there's no reason for you to go getting all flustered alright? You've done nothing wrong."

When Legolas offered no sign of understanding the man sighed.

"Hun, I don't think he's gonna let us help him, at least not tonight."

Afformentioned women was studying the elfs features, but eventually she relented as well

"I think you're right." She replied. Valen knew her husband was hinting for her to leave the elf and let him sleep, but she hesitated. Las was no more than a child she knew this in her heart, and being a mother herself she felt the need to just hold this child and never let him go.

With an internal sigh she grudgingly accepted the fact that he needed time to himself.

Standing up, Valen hid her thoughts behind a well practiced healers facade, and smiled at Legolas. "It's ok, we understand you've been through a lot little one. That said we will still need to check on your wounds as soon as possible, so sleep tonight but tomorrow we will try again ok?"

Legolas could only nod. He felt so ashamed of his behaviour. These people meant him no harm and yet he still couldn't let them touch him.

'I truly am broken.' He thought as he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

* * *

Storming through the city Keldir was making his way towards what he hoped was Koles house, anger fueling his every step. Anger towards the men who were responsible for Legolas disappearance and any pain he might have endured.

Dispite his anger the elf couldn't help the over whelming fear that was threatening to choke him. The words of the man were playing over and over in his head. It was as if a minstral had decided to turn them into a song and sing it repeatedly just for him.

'He is gone, he is dead'

'drowned in a river he was'

'never to come home, never to have lived'

'He's dead, he's dead'

'Never shall he return.'

Letting out a vivid elvish curse Keldir tried to shut out the voices in his head. He didn't want to be distracted when he had the pleasure of running this 'Kole' through with one of his twin swords.

Turning the last corner that would lead the furious elf to the market square, Keldir froze. Standing a mere 20 feet from him was an army of elves, standing dead still inserting fear into the hearts of all that saw them.

Apon this sight all of Keldir's anger drained away and was quickly replaced by a rapidly growing fear. Fear so strong it almost made him take off running in the other direction.

It wasn't the army that terrified Keldir, but instead the one leading them. Standing front and center of the elven warriors was none other than the Elven king himself. Standing tall and regal he looked every bit the powerful ruler he was known to be.

'Maybe it's not to late to run, they haven't seen me yet? I can find Kole and then find the prince and return to the Elvin king prince in hand.'

The elf was still contemplating this when suddenly the icy glare of the Elvin king found him. 'How does he know it's me? Can he see under my hood? What do I do?'

Unfortunately he didn't have to wait long to find out what the king wanted for he raised one of his bejeweled hands and with one simple movement Keldir knew he was being summoned.

'He's going to kill me, or maybe if I'm lucky he'll just lock me in his dungeons for the next few centuries. What if he banishes me?' This made the colour drain from the elfs face, if he was banished he would never again be able to talk to his family or set foot in the forest that he loves so dearly.'

Choking down his rising fear the elf started towards the king.

"Remove your hood." The king's controlled voice commanded.

"Yes my k..king." Keldir couldn't help the shaking that had taken over his body, and now caused him to stutter.

"Have you any information regarding the prince." Keldir was shocked, there was no obvious anger to be found in the king's voice.

'Why isn't he angry? Maybe he doesn't want to dissapline me in public? Yes that has to be it.'

"Yes my King, I believe I know who is r...responsible for the princes disappearance."

"Well tell me quickly for I'm about to be bombarded with town officials. Where is my son and who can I kill?"

"A man called Kole is believed to have taken the prince and held him captive, but I don't yet know why. And as to the whereabouts of the prince I do not know, I assume Kole will have the answer to that." Keldir didn't want to mention the possibility of the prince being drowned in the river for it would surely worry the king and he wasn't even sure if it was true.

"Thank you young one now join in the ranks, oh and we'll discuss you're punishment later."

Keldir almost choked in a very unelf like way but managed to contain it just in time, although he was pretty certain the elf king had seen it.

'So I was right he just doesn't want to do it in public.' Keldir groaned internally. When we find that prince he's going to owe me big time.

Looking up Keldir realised he still hasn't finished his conversation with the Elf king, so turning red he tried to speak but his voice came out very small. He looked like an elfling who had just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, much to the king's amusement.

"Ah yes My king."

He could have almost sworn he saw the King smile as he walked/ran to find a place among the rows of elves.

* * *

**I have to admit this is not one of my better chapters. For some reason its been really slow going, and it still doesnt sound quite right. Hooefully my next chapter will be better. Thanks for reading!**


	14. Introductions

15

It was a cold and dreary morning that greated the prince, but he found he didn't care. The pitter patter of rain apon the roof served to relax him, almost to the point where he felt he could fall back asleep.

The room was still dark with only a little light filtering in though the curtain, which was still drawn closed. The prince wished he could simply open the curtain and watch the rain, but unfortunately his body was still to weak to attempt such a feat.

Sighing he resigned himself to just listening the rain, and contemplating everything that had happened. 'I wonder what Keldir's doing right now? He's probably running as far away from Mirkwood as possible and I wouldn't blame him. I'm sure my Ada's furious.

Legolas knew in his heart that Keldir was probably worried sick looking for him at this very minute, but he didn't want to think about how much he had hurt his friend and Ada. He felt so incredibly guilty for bringing them pain. 'If only I had listen to Kel and not split up then none of this would have happened.'

"Ada." He sighed. After his Naneth had passed it had been incredibly hard on his Ada, he couldn't imagine how his Ada was coping with his dissapearance.

He was so deep in thoughts about his Ada, that he failed to notice the door creak open. Oblivious to the prince there was currently two small children crawling towards his bed. It wasn't until they began to whisper that the elf realised they were there.

"He's a fairy."

"No he's not fairies aren't real. Daddy says he's an elf."

"How do you know elves are real and not fairies?"

"I just know Freya. Daddy's super smart and he says he's an elf so he must be."

"We could ask him?"

"I don't know, He could be really mean."

"But mummy has been looking after him and she wouldn't fix a mean fairy."

"Hes not a fairy."

Legolas was becoming very amused, all of his dark thoughts from early were forgotten. 'This must be Freya and what was the little boys name again?'

"He is too George." A slightly louder whisper could be heard.

'George? Yes I believe that's what Valen said her youngest son was called.'

The hushed conversation that was taking place at the foot of his bed started to grow louder as they debated whether or not he was a fairy, and Legolas decided he should probably intervene.

"Hello?" He asked. His voice was still much to raspy for his liking but he realized there was nothing he could do about that at the moment.

The conversation between the two children came to an abrupt halt, before two heads slowly appeared over the end if his bed.

"H...hello" The little girl stammered. She was obviously nervous, and he wanted to put her at ease.

"Hello Freya, it's nice to see you again."

"You r...remember me?" She stammered with a surprised look gracing her face.

"Of course I remember you. How could I forget such a pretty face." Legolas replied while giving her a genuine smile.

"And you must be George? He asked the little boy.

"Ye..yes sir." George replied while looking anywhere but at Legolas.

"You can just call me Las. After all I'm greatly in dept to you and your brother. I heard you pulled me out if the river, and for that you both have my undying gratitude, thank you.

George just stood there unsure of what to say. Never before had he received a thank you quite as strong as this one, and from an elf no less.

"Y.. you're welcome." He whispered with a blush appearing on his cheeks.

A silence fell over the group as they studied each other, and all there features. Legolas could easily tell by looking at these children that they were related for they both had sandy brown hair and tan skin. He couldn't help but feel pale In comparison.

The kids on the other hand were amazed by the being in front of them, he was surrounded by a faint glow which they believed made him look like a Valar.

The silence was broken by the little girl who Legolas now knew to be Freya. "Are you a fairy?"

It was such an innocent question, and Legolas could tell she was being serious, but the question still made him blush. 'Keldir would sure laugh at me if he was here right now. He always joked about my gold hair and pale skin.'

Looking back at the girl Legolas sighed before choosing his words very carefully.

"I..I am not a fairy, although it would be cool if I was one. I must admit though that I am merely an elf. I hope that doesn't disappoint you to much."

Legolas smiled as he witnessed the girl studying his face. It seemed she was trying to decide wether or not he was lying.

"Ok, you're an elf then. May I sit on your bed?" She asked while offering a big smile.

Legolas hesitated. He still didn't like the idea of anyone touching him, but this was a child what was there to be afraid of?

"Yes of course you may." He said while trying to sit up further.

He didn't like being on his back it felt wrong to have a conversation without getting up, after all he was a prince and certain habits he couldn't quash.

George could see what the elf was trying to do, but he also saw the tension lines in the elfs forehead which gave away how much pain this movement caused. His mother was a healer after all.

"Do..do you need help." He offered

Legolas looked at the boy and contemplated his options. On one hand he knew he probably couldn't sit up by himself and he would just end up making a fool of himself, and on the other hand he could except this boys help but he would have to be touched.

"Y...yes please." He finally stammered. He couldn't hide the fear from his voice, but luckily these kids were to young to really notice it.

George made his way over to the elf and very carefully rapped his arm around the elfs and slid a pillow under his shoulder. He could feel the elf shaking underneath his grip, but he put it down to exhaustion. Moving around to the other side he repeated this process and slid another pillow behind the elf.

"Thank you." Legolas whispered to the boy once he had gotten his shaking under control.

"It's ok. May I sit on the bed too?" He questioned.

The boy was obviously shy but he had a brave streak that would help him over come his fear. It was a good balance Legolas decided.

"Yes of course. I'd appreciate the company." Legolas wasn't exactly being truthful, but it wasn't a flat out lie, so he deemed it ok. Samir had been partially correct when he mentioned elves inability to lie. It wasn't that they couldn't lie, it was just something they didn't do often.

George and Freya looked at each other before giggling and climbing onto the bed.

"I told you he wasn't mean." Freya whispered to George.

"Ok you were right Freya." He whispered back.

Legolas chuckled. He didn't miss the whispers that passed between them and he was glad he had earned their trust.

So it was like this that Valen and Samir found them an hour later. They had discussed everything from favourite foods to favourite stories, and could truely say they were friends.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! And a special thanks too those of you who have been reviewing each chapter. I love reading them!**


	15. Confrontations

16

"Where is my son." This one sentence was filled with so much raw anger it could be assumed it came from the dark lord himself, but alas it was the Elven king who harnessed this fury.

Almost immediately after Keldir had successfully hidden himself amongst the rows of fierce warrior's, a group of men approached the king. These men were definitely diplomats, for it made Keldir cringe when he imagined these men welding anything other than a pen.

The so called mayor of the town was at the front of the group, but he looked nothing like a leader should. In fact he looked like he wanted nothing mare than to run away and leave his people to face the elven kings wraith on their own. Keldir couldn't help but think of this man as a coward.

"I asked you a question human, where is my son?" The word human was spoken with so much venomous hate that it sounded like a curse.

"I...I didn't k..know it was your s.. son. I would have..have"

"You would have what? Looked for him?"

"Y..yes" The man looked like he was going to pass out at any moment, and came very close to actually doing so when he saw the furious glint in the king's eyes. Apparently this wasn't the right answer.

"It shouldn't matter wether or not it's my son." He growled before grabbing the front of the man's tunic and hauling him off his feet.

"I expect you to take an interest in all elves who go missing within your pathetic town. Or do you agree with the capture and enslavement of elves?"

"N...no of course n..not." The last of the man's composure had crumbled the moment the elven king had grabbed his tunic. Uncontrollable tears could be seen running down his face, which only added to the Elven king's pleasure.

Thranduil offered the man a feral smile. It was clear that this man was informed about Legolas disappearance and yet he chose to sit back and watch, for that he would pay.

"Keldir come here please." He summoned without taking his eyes off the man. If the young elf could confirmed the king's suspicions then it was within his rights to arrest this man for being an accomplice to treason.

"Yes Hir nin?" Keldir was struggling not to smile. After all he had spent the past week trying to get this man to help him, but he was always turned away.

"Keldir, can you confirm that this 'man' knew about the princes disappearance?"

"Yes Hir nin. I personally came to him four times asking for aid in the search for Prince Legolas, but I was turned away everytime."

"Hannon le penneth. You may return to your place now."

"Yes Hir nin." Now Keldir did smile. This man was in trouble, he had seen the look on his kings face.

"I hear by announce you under arrest for treason against Mirkwood. Is there any here who would like to defend this man?"

There was a collective gasp from the growing crowd when the charge was announced but no one was willing to appose the Elven king.

"Good." Throwing the man to the ground Thranduil signalled for a handful of elves to come and escort this man back to Mirkwood where he could await sentencing.

As the elves approached the man on the ground began screaming out for help. The rational part of his mind knew no help would come, but his fear drove him into an irrational state of desperation.

He fought hard kicking and punching at the air, but before long the elves had a hold on everyone of his limbs and further struggle became futile.

The humans who had gathered showed no loyalty towards their ex-mayor which was no surprise to the elven king. He had always known humans were incapable of loyalty. The only thing they cared about is clinging to their own mortal lives for as long as they can.

"If information about my son is not provided immediately, then many more of you can expect to be spending the rest of your short lives in the Mirkwood dungeons. All information given will act as a pardon, which means all crimes committed shall be forgiven. But If you do not come forward and I'm informed of your misdeeds through someone else you can expect a very heavy punishment. Am I clear."

Thranduil deamed this the most efficient way to get humans to talk. Their lack of loyalty and self preservation instincts would drive them to betray each other in an instant.

A murmur rippled through the crowd but before long Thranduil was proven correct. Driven by fear a few men stepped forward.

"Your H... Highness, I heard a man called Kole bragging a...about having your son." A brown haired older man announce.

"S...sir" Another man yelled. "I...I am K..Kole and I let your son g..go days ago. This is all a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding you say...Guards!"

The colour drained from Koles face as the king yelled out for his guards. "You.. you said we would be pardoned?"

The King glared at the man. "I said I would pardon anyone who held information about my son, but it seems you're lying to me. Do you take me as a fool?"

"N..no I swear I don't have 'im anymore." He was becoming more and more flustered under the intense glare of the Elven king.

"What did you do with my son?" Growled Thranduil.

Kole could see he had no hope of escape so he gave up on appealing to the king's humanity.

"I made him scream before the end. I made him beg, like the loyal pet he was." He sneared at the elven king.

The crowd was silent in anticipation for what the Elven king would do, most of the elves expected the Elven king to behead the insolent man on the spot, but it seemed the king had different plans.

Making his way over to the man he looked murderous. He stopped just in front of the man before punching him square in the face.

Kole collapsed upon impact and lay on the ground clutching his nose.

"Where is my son?" The King repeated in an oddly calm voice.

"He... I threw him in the river. He's dead."

"You lie." Thranduil spat at the man before picking him up of the ground.

"I don't lie. He's gone." Kole had a look of acceptance on his face. He knew he was going to die, there was no point in denying it now.

Thranduil growled before handing him over to another elf. As much as he hating to admit it this man was being truthful.

"Ganduil, I want elves searching the river. The prince cannot be dead, I would know if he was."

"Yes Hir nin, and what of this...man?" Ganduil questioned. He had been the captain of the Mirkwood Army for the past millennium and was very loyal to the Royal family.

"He will be coming back to Mirkwood with me. He has wronged Legolas the most, so it should be Legolas who gets to decide his fate." The king sighed. "Unfortunately I can't stay and look for the prince I have been away from Mirkwood to long as it is, but I trust you implicitly. Find my son."

* * *

**Sorry for the short chapter the next one should be longer. Thanks for reading. ;)**


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